Worcester fight victim 'just didn't have enough time'

WORCESTER — Robert A. Walker believed that if you fall down seven times you get back up eight.

Christier Herrera, Mr. Walker's girlfriend of two years, said he was a Quinsigamond Community College student and was trying to change his environment.

"He had the potential to go far," said Ms. Herrera of Worcester. "I guess he just didn't have enough time."

Mr. Walker, 18, died early Sunday morning after being hit with a bottle during a fight at the Crestwood Arms apartment complex at 121 Bailey St., police said.

Ms. Herrera remembered him as a sweet person who was loyal to his friends.

"He was always there for people," she said. "He was a good kid."

After having trouble holding on to a job, Mr. Walker was hoping to enter the U.S. Navy and had been communicating with a recruiter, she said.

The couple met about six years ago, when they attended middle school in Worcester. He moved to Blackstone with his mother about a year ago, but still spent time in Worcester to attend school, she said.

He has two younger brothers, and enjoyed playing and watching football.

Mr. Walker grew up in the Lakeside Apartments housing development, where close friends and family held a candlelight vigil Sunday evening, near Webster Square and the Coes Reservoir. Several donned shirts with Mr. Walker's picture on them; others donated money for a funeral service for the young man, who turned 18 in May.

Ms. Herrera did not know the details of what happened at the party, but said she knew he was there that night.

"That was the last text I got from him," she said.

His family declined to comment Monday evening.

At Crestwood Arms, residents were trying to understand how violence permeated their small, quiet neighborhood, which is tucked into the woods near Worcester Regional Airport.

Gay J. Rabasinsky, who has lived in condo B-14 with her daughter for more than 20 years, said she and others were in disbelief when they woke Sunday morning to see police cruisers, and yellow police tape closing off parts of the complex.

"We don't have things like that up here," Ms. Rabasinsky said, who also serves on the condo association's board. She said her air conditioner was running, so they didn't hear anything.

Mr. Walker was found behind their building, she said.

"When the ambulance came, we didn't know what was happening," she said. "It was very scary. We were really concerned it was one of our neighbors who we knew. It is really sad that it is an 18-year-old. It is a waste."

She said most of the 36 condos in the complex are occupied by their owners, but the man who lived for years in the condo on the third floor in building E died a few months ago and his family sold it in a short sale. The new owner rented it out, she said, to a woman who just had a male roommate move in. The couple hosted the party, she said.

The woman living there refused to open the door Monday and yelled, "We have no comment." About 15 minutes later, she descended the stairs to her mailbox with a T-shirt covering her head and would not comment on what happened at the party.

Ms. Rabasinsky said she spoke with the woman Monday and she said she was moving out.

"He lived here forever and they sold it, and now there are renters living there," she said. "The owner of that condo is really upset. We were going to meet with the woman renting it, but she told us today she is leaving."

She said the board is going to meet to discuss requiring all prospective renters undergo background checks.

"We are happy she is leaving — I bet I could speak for everyone here," she said. "We want to protect this. We don't want it to turn into other complexes where there is routine violence. We don't want it. They brought it here."

At Lakeside Apartments, owned by the Worcester Housing Authority, where Mr. Walker lived as a child, a memorial was set up on a cement retaining wall inside the basketball court behind Building 20. Candles and various liquor bottles lined the top of the wall — in the center was a Corona bottle and Steel Reserve 211 High Gravity liquor bottle with a yellow Adidas shirt spread on top of them, topped by a Cardinals baseball cap. Spray painted on the wall were some of Mr. Walker's nicknames: "Big Boss," "Mula," "Big Homie" and "Flocka," along with "RIP, Rob."

Mr. Walker's friends and also some of his 15-year-old brother's friends stopped to pay their respects at the memorial late Monday night.

"Yesterday for the vigil a lot of people came," said 16-year-old Jadiel Rodriguez, who lives at Lakeside and is friends with one of Mr. Walker's younger brothers. "People were mad because there were traffic jams because so many people came. Some people say what happened was gang-related, but they just want this to be a memorial."

Contact Alli Knothe at aknothe@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @KnotheA

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